two things.. belt problems and a horn/key issue.

[bbob203]

my <edited by moderator> battery light seemingly never goes off when its raining or goes off and comes on intermittently. belt seems tight enough has squeeled before but hasnt done it lately. what the heck can i do here? did they do this from the factory?

turned my key for the glowplug yesterday and my horn went off turned it again same thing third time was normal. any idea whats going with that?

[82vdub]

A bad ground is a strong possiblity. Floating grounds cause all sorts of weird unlogical problems. Fix the missing ground and the problem goes away. Only issue is finding which ground is bad. There's lots of them under the dash.

[TylerDurden]

re belt: when the light is on, check the alternator output at the battery terminals to ensure proper voltage, then chase connections.

re key: I occasionally let another key on my ring slip between the steering-wheel and the column when I start the car... it shorts the contacts and sounds the horn. It probably has happened at least once in every vw I've owned.

[JRM]

Yup, on humid days I get a beep out of the horn when the GP relay fires up. I also get the glow plug light when the rear wiper is used.
Water in my relay panel also a cause 1985 golf

[ad]

Ive had both the issues you describe.
Its great when you're in a parking lot and someone is standing right in front of your car and put in the key and the horn goes off.
I havent done anything to fix it, as it only happens occasionally.

As for the alternator light, Do you have AC?

My light used to come on anytime it rained because the belt was slipping. It didnt always squeal either. But it wasnt the alt belt, it was the AC belt. The Alt runs off the AC compressor pulley, so if you have AC, make sure that is tight, then re-tighten the alt belt.

[bbob203]

ah ha that must be it i do have a/c. im having a cert. vw tech put in a timing bet and new vbelts for me next week so he should hopsfully make this problem disappear. how does one tighten the ac belt though i couldnt really see a way when i was kind of looking the other day.

[DrAnonymous]

To tighten the A/C, you have to loosen the bolts on the compressor.